#OTD 25 December 2003, Mars Express enters martian orbit, Europe’s successful 1st attempt to send a space probe into orbit around another planet... See esa.int/Our_Activities…
And #MarsExpress is staying busy this Christmas, too! Last night #MEX conducted overflight & test communication link w/ @MarsCuriosity #RedPlanet Link was live for 6 mins starting 22:35CET. Recorded signal data was downloaded at 02:33CET this AM
These images from ESA’s Mars Express show a crater named Ismenia Patera on the Red Planet. Its origin remains uncertain: did a meteorite smash into the surface or could it be the remnants of a supervolcano?
Mars Express v2.011 April 2018 Every so often, your smartphone or tablet receives new software to improve its functionality and extend its life. Now, ESA’s Mars Express is getting a fresh install, delivered across over 150 million km of space. With nearly 15 years in orbit, Mars Express – one of the most successful interplanetary missions ever – is on track to keep gathering critical science data for many more years thanks to a fresh software installation developed by the mission teams at ESA. ...
The past 15 years of observations from Mars Express have significantly contributed to the newly emerging picture of Mars as a once-habitable planet, with warmer and wetter epochs that may have once acted as oases for ancient martian life. These findings have paved the way for missions dedicated to hunting for signs of life on the planet, such as ESA and Roscosmos’s two-mission ExoMars programme. Meanwhile, on board Mars Express, an innovative software patch has recently rejuvenated the spacecraft. After the successful activation of new software loaded on the spacecraft on 16 April, followed by a series of in-flight tests, Mars Express resumed science operations on 27 April. The new software, developed by ESA, was needed to compensate for the potential old-age run-down of the satellite's six gyroscopes, which measure how much Mars Express rotates about any of its three axes. Since 16 May, the spacecraft has been operating with its gyros mostly switched off. Fine-tuning of the new software will take place over the coming months.This implementation is a major operational milestone for the mission, as it gives Mars Express an extended lifeline, possibly through the mid-2020s.
Huge underground lake raises prospects of life on Mars, say astronomersScientists have spotted a 12 mile-wide stretch of water underneath a slab of ice at the Martian south pole
If this interpretation holds, this discovery by MARSIS -apart from being huge by itself- will shift exobiology and direct sampling strategies for decades to come, although the ice in the area is 1.5 km thick and the 1-2 m-deep brine is at -68ºC.http://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2018/07/24/science.aar7268https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/jul/25/huge-underground-lake-discovered-on-mars-say-astronomersQuoteHuge underground lake raises prospects of life on Mars, say astronomersScientists have spotted a 12 mile-wide stretch of water underneath a slab of ice at the Martian south pole
Mars Express detects water buried under the south pole of Mars
Since 13 September, ESA’s Mars Express has been observing the evolution of an elongated cloud formation hovering in the vicinity of the 20 km-high Arsia Mons volcano, close to the planet’s equator. In spite of its location, this atmospheric feature is not linked to volcanic activity but is rather a water ice cloud driven by the influence of the volcano’s leeward slope on the air flow – something that scientists call an orographic or lee cloud – and a regular phenomenon in this region.